Betting.com

CONTACT

Betting.com Reimagined: A User-Centric Transformation (2023-24)

BACKGROUND

Betting.com, first registered in 1994 on a server in Canada, has evolved through various ownership changes, culminating in its acquisition by the Game Lounge Group in 2020. My job was to significantly transform the appearance and functionality of our website, aiming to provide the best possible experience to our users.

Our goal for the product was to improve the website experience and increase efficiencies for new bettors. Our high-level goals were to:

Create a platform for a deeper engagement
Make our website more user-friendly
Make our website modern and meet all user demands

THE CHALLENGE

Conducted user research
Own the end-to-end user experience
Collaborated with multiple cross-functional teams
Worked with the UI team to define the style guidelines
Collaborated closely with Content, SEO, Strategy and Product teams to design a user experience strategy.

MY ROLE

User research plan

1. Discover common features of websites
2. Make an audience basic research
3. Make general market research for sports betting
4. Learn as much as possible about sports gaming
5. Find out the data on how calculators work in the betting field
6. Try to understand how we can lead our users to safe and reliable
betting sites through betting guides, reviews and tools

Methods

Desk Research

Consolidating data
Competitive analysis
Information Architecture
Hypothetical user personas

UX Audit:

Stakeholder interviews
Analytics gathering
Heuristic Evaluation
Synthesising research into a report.

Notes from Stakeholder's interview

To ensure a thorough understanding of stakeholder needs and project goals, I conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. During these interviews, I recorded our meetings, transcribed the conversations, and highlighted key insights.

This process allowed us to capture valuable feedback and identify critical areas for improvement. The insights gained from these interviews informed our project direction and ensured alignment with stakeholder expectations.

Here are some highlights:

KICKOFF

Without pre-existing insights, I explored how users were interacting on the current website. I conducted a total of 10 contextual inquiry studies across North America. Our goals were to understand the challenges different users faced and inform Stakeholders and the product team about the processes and opportunities to improve.

EARLY INSIGHTS FROM RESEARCH

Complex navigation
Information overload
Trust and transparency issues

WORKSHOP: Betting.com: processes and challenges

I organised and presented a workshop focused on our extensive efforts to revamp the Betting.com website, emphasising a user-centric approach to enhance overall user experience and engagement. Through collaborative sessions and hands-on activities, we shared key insights and methodologies of our project:

DESK RESEARCH

Through comprehensive desk research, I analysed various aspects of the sports betting industry, including legal landscapes, betting trends, demographic insights, and user behaviour patterns. This research was needed to inform our strategy and help us design a more user-friendly and engaging website.

Here are some of the key findings:

DEEPER INSIGHTS

PEOPLE PROBLEM

"I just get lost with all the numbers and options. It's like they're everywhere, and I don't know where to start or what to focus on."

"As someone new to betting, I felt pretty out of my depth. I wished there was a simple guide or something to walk me through how to get started."

"How do I know these odds are legit? It feels like they just throw numbers at you without explaining where they come from or how they're calculated."

"Trying to use the site on my phone is a nightmare. Everything's cramped, and I can't find what I need. It's not as good as on my computer."

"I wish there was a way to share tips with others or just talk about the games. Betting is more fun when it's social, but the site feels pretty isolating."

MORE Insights from users

The less time people are using their cognitive power to try to do what they want to do, the more time they’ll spend on our service.

Making this decision should be as simple as possible, but with some, it’s not and I’m unsure where I should be clicking to even get into seeing the odds for sports. Selecting a bet is another task that requires me to have some insight into betting terminology. Many brands refer to a home win as ‘1’, a draw as ‘x’ and an away win as ‘2’. To most novice users that means nothing. “What’s the score in the England game?” “It’s X at the moment, mate.”

There are plenty more ways of betting and terminology that need to be learned.

Sports is happening 24/7 and so there are always live events and upcoming sports to bet on, so there’s a bucket load of information that can be presented to the user.

"The interface becomes bloated because of the amount of data shown. It fails to serve its purpose correctly and I feel slightly out of control. I’m on a site and I’m keen to bet. So what next? I’m lost in a sea of data, I struggle to find what I want and I rarely can search for a team to bring up the odds of the thing I’m looking for."

"I can’t adapt my experience. I’m still left looking at a page of information I’m not interested in. I feel like I should be able to set up some preferences, I should be able to tell I support Southampton, and we should be able to list back details on your homepage about the current odds of Southampton winning the Premier League."

"If I enter a live poker room on William Hill, I’m greeted by the croupier and asked if I’d like to sit at the table rather than just watching, which was a great experience. Personalised experiences like this keep customers loyal to a brand."

PERSONAS

Top 9 betting sites competitive analysis

I analysed the Top 9 betting sites' on parts and pages like:

Nav bar
Homepage
Betting sites for sport
Best betting odds
Best free picks
Betting offers
Betting bonuses
Betting Tool
Betting sites payments
Betting Guides
Betting news
Best Betting Apps
Offer card
Review Pages
Footer

SITE MAP

The sitemap for Betting.com was meticulously crafted to prioritise SEO rather than traditional user experience principles. This strategic approach ensures that the website structure is optimised for search engines, enhancing our visibility and ranking in search results.

Each section and page is designed to target specific keywords and search queries, providing a robust foundation for our SEO efforts:

Sketches & Low Fidelity

As part of our design process, I created detailed sketches and low-fidelity wireframes to visualise the layout and functionality of key website elements. These early design artefacts served as an initial blueprint, allowing us to explore different design options and gather feedback before moving on to higher-fidelity prototypes. The sketches and low-fidelity wireframes focused on important aspects such as popular events, match details:

DESIGN SOLUTION